READING

Reading Comprehension - World Cup in South Africa

Develop your reading skills. Read the following text and do the comprehension questions

The 2010 world cup (South Africa)

The 2010 world cup football (soccer) competition will take place in South Africa between June 11 and July 11, 2010. This will be the 19th FIFA World Cup. It is an event that is held every four years.

This will be the first time that the world cup is held in an African country. South Africa competed against Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia and Libya ( Tunisia and Libya offered to co-host the competition) for the organization of the event. Following the decision of the FIFA Executive Committee not to allow co-hosted tournaments, Tunisia withdrew from the bidding process. The committee also decided not to consider Libya's solo bid as it no longer met all the stipulations laid down in the official List of Requirements. After one round of voting, the winning bid was announced by FIFA president Sepp Blatter at a media conference on 15 May 2004 in Zürich. South Africa was awarded the rights to host the tournament as it got 14 votes, defeating Morocco (10 votes) and Egypt (0 votes)

During 2006 to 2007, a lot of rumors circulated in various news sources that the 2010 World Cup could be moved to another country. Some people expressed concern over the planning, organization, and pace of South Africa's preparations. Others even expressed concerns over the safety of world cup visitors. In fact, South Africa has a high rate of criminality. However, FIFA officials repeatedly expressed their confidence in South Africa as host and showed their trust in the ability of the country to organize the competition successfully.